


All That Remains

by TurkFox



Category: Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-12
Updated: 2015-03-17
Packaged: 2018-03-17 11:23:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3527489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TurkFox/pseuds/TurkFox
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As the last of the old breed, Percival and Merlin cling to each other as they try to sort the mess out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> For this prompt: "In the aftermath of V-Day, the only Kingsman left alive (aside from Merlin & Roxy) is Percival, the others all having died either by having their head blown off or in the fighting. As the last of the old breed, Percival and Merlin cling to each other as they try to sort the mess out."
> 
> It's cool if Harry turns out to be alive, as long as they start out thinking he's dead.
> 
> (http://dressing-room3.livejournal.com/405.html?thread=217749#t217749)

Two arms? Check. Two legs? Check. Both eyes working? Check. That would suffice for now. Percival’s head was pounding and he was dizzy enough that getting to his feet proved particularly challenging, but there appeared to be enough pieces of him left to walk. Now all he had to do was find out what the hell had just happened.

“Merlin? Merlin, are you there?” he asked, a wave of anxiety crashing over him as he put his glasses back on. They’d been in his pocket since yesterday and had miraculously survived the fighting, but whether there was still anyone at the receiving end remained to be seen. As he stepped over bodies, stopping only to help a young man to his feet, he could feel the panic rising within him. Was he responsible for all of this?

“For Christ’s sake, Merlin, answer me!”

It came out sounding a little more hoarse and desperate than he’d expected. He hadn’t been able to get in touch with HQ for the past twenty-four hours and he couldn’t even be sure Merlin was still alive after all of this. When there was still no answer, he made his way hire car he’d picked up on the way here and leaned back against the driver-side door, trying with little success to catch his breath.

“Merlin?” This time, he sounded as scared as he felt. It was as though cold hands were closing around his throat, choking him, and as he braced himself against the side of the car, a cloud of darkness moved in.

 

* * *

 

“…just needs to rest… he’ll be fine…”

Clusters of words filled Percival’s ears, but he couldn’t seem to focus enough to hear the whole conversation being had next to him. A middle-aged couple were looking down at him as he lay on the sofa in what appeared to be their lounge. He’d been following a lead in the Bristol area and had ventured into the city centre in search of lunch. The next thing he knew, he was trying to kill everyone around him and he wasn’t the only one – it was happening to everybody. When he’d woken up on the ground, having apparently been knocked unconscious at some point, it had all seemed like a dream. Until, that is, he’d seen the bodies.

“Hello there, love. How are you feeling?” The woman was right beside him now and he managed to haul himself up into a sitting position, but he couldn’t quite come up with an answer. “You had a bit of a funny turn in the car park! After everything stopped we thought we’d best drive home in case it started up again, and we found you on the way back to our car. You’d gone ever so pale!”

The man ushered his wife out to make some tea and handed Percival his glasses. Putting them on at that stage was more for show than to actually use them, as it appeared there was no one at HQ for now and he didn’t have direct access to any of their other bases. If he was honest with himself, they were also something of a comfort; something familiar to cling to while he tried to pull himself together.

He stayed just long enough to be polite and to drink a cup of tea, before thanking the couple and excusing himself to return to his car. This time, he made it safely into the driver’s seat and began the journey back to HQ. Driving out on to the motorway, he whispered to himself, “Please don’t let me be the only one.”


	2. Chapter 2

Percival made it almost as far as Swindon before he had to stop by the side of the road to be violently sick, further convincing him that his earlier unconsciousness has been caused by a blow to the head during the fighting. While the logical part of his brain was telling him it wasn’t safe to drive much further and that he should just try to find the nearest hospital, the emotional part seemed fairly certain that returning to HQ and hoping some of the medical staff were still there would be a far better option. After all, the hospitals would likely all be chaotic right now, and if he really was concussed they’d want to keep him in for observation, which would be far more comfortable with a dose of familiarity to go with it. With only another forty minutes of driving ahead, he figured it would be best just to carry on.

Pulling up outside the main front building of Kingsman headquarters, he was unnerved by the apparent calm and stillness. Whatever it was that had turned people into maniacs had affected _everyone_ where he’d been, so he had expected to find at least the odd corpse strewn around on the lawn or some signs of damage to the building’s exterior, but it just looked like any other day. Unsure what to make of that, he crept cautiously up the steps towards the front door.

His own weapons were long gone, but the umbrella stand just inside the entrance still held one old golf umbrella for show. It would have to do for now, he thought as he picked it up and braced it in front of him with both hands, thinking of defence rather than doing any actual damage himself. In his mind, it seemed perfectly sensible to assume that wild hooligans would have taken advantage of the situation to break in. He managed to make it almost all the way to the foot of the stairs before he passed out.

 

* * *

 

Waking up on his back was getting to be something of a habit for Percival, but this time he just didn’t have the energy to open his eyes. His first thought was that maybe he’d dreamt the car and the vomiting and he was actually still on that couple’s sofa, because the surface beneath him was too soft to be the hall floor at the bottom of the stairs where he’d fallen moments ago. There were distant voices again, too. The voices slowly came into focus and he could pick out three separate people, one of whom he could almost have recognised as Roxy if it was possible for her to be here. His eyes finally agreed to co-operate and a figure gradually came into view: Eggsy. He frowned deeply, going back over the last things he remembered to work out if he really could be at HQ.

“Ah, back with us at last,” said a voice whose owner gradually moved closer. Merlin. Merlin was alive, and here, and how bad could things really be if Merlin was alive and _here?_

“Why didn’t you call in and let us know you were alright?” Roxy asked, moving round to the other side of the bed to hold Percival’s hand.

“I-I tried to, but no one was there…” His voice sounded hoarse and the scratching sensation in his throat started him coughing. Eggsy was right by his other side with a glass of water, while Roxy helped him to sit up enough to drink. Several sips later, the glass was removed and he was placed gently onto the pillows which had been propped up behind him. “How long was I out for?”

The looks on the faces gathered by his bedside gave him plenty of cause for concern. Had it been a day or two and they just didn’t want to tell him that in case it caused him to worry? Their expressions were beginning to worry him anyway, so he raised an eyebrow at them in an attempt to hurry them up. Merlin took a deep breath and moved closer.

“It’s… it’s been almost two weeks now.” _Two weeks?_ It hadn’t been that bad. He’d just been a bit nauseous, a bit dizzy, that’s all. He wanted to tell Merlin as much, but Merlin hadn’t finished speaking. “As you might have noticed, everyone was affected by the fighting.”

Merlin went on to explain about Valentine’s plan. He spoke about Arthur, and about how some of the other agents may also have been involved. He told the whole story of how they’d saved the day and Percival was very impressed, but he couldn’t help feeling there was something they weren’t telling him. He congratulated Roxy and Eggsy on their work, but then he just had to ask.

“So, how many of us are there now? Will we need to have another round of applicants to fill any of the spots?” Eggsy studied the ground intently. “More than one spot?” Roxy was beginning to tear up and she too couldn’t meet his gaze. “Come on! Will one of you _please_ just tell me?”

Merlin swallowed hard, clutching his iPad to his chest. Percival braced himself for the news he was almost certain was coming.

“No one else came back. You were the only one.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapters are going to be longer from now on, I promise! I just wanted to set things up nicely before I really get into it, and those felt like natural places to stop.


End file.
